There was no answer. The young lady hurried up the stairs and they heard her chamber door close. Cousin Percy shrugged his shoulders.
“Too bad our friend was called away so suddenly,” he observed. “Very much of a surprise, wasn't it? Too bad.”
No one replied, not even Serena, who was not wont to ignore the comments of her aristocratic relative. Her next remark was in the nature of an order and was addressed to her husband.
“Come! Come! Come!” she said fretfully. “Do come to bed!”
Daniel, pausing only to extinguish the lights, obeyed. Mr. Hungerford, with another shrug and a covert smile, preceded him up the stairs. As the captain was about to enter his bedroom, a voice, which sounded as if the speaker was half asleep, called from the third floor.
“Is there anything I can do, sir?” asked Hapgood. “I 'ave just been aroused, sir.”
Daniel turned. Here was a heaven-sent vent for his feelings.
“Do!” he repeated. “Anything you can do? Yes, there is. Shut your door and turn in.”
“But, sir—”
“And shut your head along with it!”